This archive report was first published on 12 June 2020.
On June 8, 2020, Burundi's top court made a ruling aimed at ending the power vacuum created by the sudden death of President Pierre Nkurunziza.
The Constitutional Court ruled that President-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible, two months earlier than planned.
According to the constitution, the speaker of parliament, Pascal Nyabenda, should have become the interim leader, but the cabinet decided to refer to the court.
Mr. Ndayishimiye was elected in May to replace President Nkurunziza, who had been in power for 15 years.
The ruling ends days of uncertainty about the succession in the small East African country, reports the BBC's senior Africa correspondent Anne Soy.
Mr. Nkurunziza had been able to run for a fourth term in last month's election but decided to retire and was to be known as the 'supreme guide to patriotism.'
The government said that he died on June 8, 2020, of a cardiac arrest after being taken ill on Saturday evening.
There have been numerous reports that Mr. Nkurunziza died after contracting coronavirus, but these have not been confirmed.
SOS Médias Burundi, which is made up of exiled journalists, quoted both a medical source and another close to the government as saying that the late president had Covid-19.
The government has not responded to the reports.
